I was told back in the day that the more often you shave, the quicker and fuller your hair will grow. I always thought this was an old wives tale, however I have noticed after 2 months of using a straight/due and large ring with a brush, my facial hair seems to come in darker, fuller, and quicker, even in spots that didn't grow much. What's your take?
Growing more facial hair?
- Thread starter Treynman
- Start date
No, but....
You get older every day, and facial hair seems to get more ornery with age.
You may be paying more attention than you used to.
Your skin and hair may be healthier than they were.
You get older every day, and facial hair seems to get more ornery with age.
You may be paying more attention than you used to.
Your skin and hair may be healthier than they were.
I've noticed the same thing, but with me I think it is just my beard filling out more.
I'm 22 and three quarters and have been wet-shaving for a few months. I feel that I have noticed the same as OP but have put it down to a late bloom and my beard filling out. Still near to nothing on the cheeks; it's all neckbeard. Still, I shave what I have properly.
There is no reason why wielding a blade over your skin will cause the follicle under the skin to begin producing a more robust hair shaft, or produce it more quickly. If that actually worked, balding head shavers would begin growing hair again. The one way in which shaving might appear to make hair come back thicker is that it cuts the hair shaft in the middle, leaving a cross section of a full shaft at the skin's surface. This is a broader section of hair than a natural, uncut hair tip, which is tapered and finer; as such, the cut hair might look fuller, but it's an illusion. Also, a blade usually cuts a whisker at a slight angle, producing a sharp point on the hair, which will cause it to feel rougher than uncut, naturally tapering hair. Again, this just creates the illusion that the hair is coming back stiffer than before. Beyond that, any changes are likely due to other factors. The OP didn't state his age, but I believe it's fairly common for a man's beard to continue to develop and fill in well into his twenties. Considering most young men need to start clearing the peach fuzz in their teens, it is pure coincidence that their beards continue to fill in and develop as they continue to shave.
I'm the same and my whiskers seem to be tougher after three months.
I read something on Wikipedia about this. It just because the hair has been cut, has a sharp edge, and fells like it is thicker.
Ditto. Believe it or not but there is some medical research that shows no change in hair growth, thickness, or darkening color due to shaving. Many of us have switched from cartridge shaving with shaving goo (not always skin friendly) to DE or SE using shaving soap (much better for the skin). As mentioned above, as the hair grows the tips become thinner, softer, and fads in color. From personal experience I know the cartridges I used never gave me a close shave and I always had some short stubble. When I switched to DE and shaving soap I was able to get a closer cut to the skin where the hair shaft was thicker, firmer,and darker. I'm trying to think of a good analogy but the only thing I can come up with is cutting the toe nails on dark colored dog (we have a few). The nails are thick, stronger and darker near the paw and thin, fad, become a little weaker towards the tip. Because you don't want to cut the quick and make them bleed, you cut small sections of the tip and work your way down, kind of like shaving. You are trimming back with each pass, not taking it off all at once. As you cut further back on the nail it becomes thicker and darker and is easier to see compared to the nail next to it. Like I said, not a good analogy but because we are cutting our whiskers closer to the follicle, we are getting a different view/perspective. Hope that makes sense.
The myth may be true with facial a head hair but maybe not so with other areas. My wife (when she was a child of 10 or so) was allowed to start shaving her legs and dident like hair at all so shaved anywhere she dident like hair but was told she was not allowed to. Aside from her controlling mother who had told her shaving has no barring on hair coming back thicker or fuller my wife did an experiment. She shaved her left big toe but not the right and she shaved to the bottom left of her belly button not the right ( in her mind inconspicuous places) and after a few months showed her mom her hairy toe and not hairy right toe and same with her belly .
To this day she has a small patch of hair on her stomach and her left big toe. She hates them,.... but that was her experience and experiment with the shaving theory.
To this day she has a small patch of hair on her stomach and her left big toe. She hates them,.... but that was her experience and experiment with the shaving theory.
Well I just turned 50 in May and I started DE shaving at that time and I will say this..
That the routine of using a scrub and all the other preparatory work to get your face to that optimum shaving stage has done this for me.
I have a clearer complexion with no spots or irritation, I BBS every evening and when I began this routine and I would be clear of major stubble until a day and a half later, now I have full stubble within 24 hours and as in this morning I did quick XTG pass and my blade removed a growth.
I have gone from Derby's to Persona Blue and my skin has taken to this change like a Gillette to TOBS, I mean a duck to water...
So my skin is healthier and as a result my facial hair grows faster and thicker.. now if only I could apply the same logic to my balding pate....
I now strive to spread the word and just maybe after 3 months I may be about to convert a friend... tis a good feeling...
That the routine of using a scrub and all the other preparatory work to get your face to that optimum shaving stage has done this for me.
I have a clearer complexion with no spots or irritation, I BBS every evening and when I began this routine and I would be clear of major stubble until a day and a half later, now I have full stubble within 24 hours and as in this morning I did quick XTG pass and my blade removed a growth.
I have gone from Derby's to Persona Blue and my skin has taken to this change like a Gillette to TOBS, I mean a duck to water...
So my skin is healthier and as a result my facial hair grows faster and thicker.. now if only I could apply the same logic to my balding pate....
I now strive to spread the word and just maybe after 3 months I may be about to convert a friend... tis a good feeling...
My $0.02
I am in the camp that shaving does not create more hair follicles. However, when transitioning from a cartridge to a DE you may think that your facial hair is growing faster. I attribute this to the fact that many cartridges actually pull the hair up and cut below the surface of the skin. I find that a DE shave lasts me twelve hours while a cartridge shave went a full twenty four before I noticed stubble. Some might think that their facial hair is growing "faster" with the DE because of this.
I am in the camp that shaving does not create more hair follicles. However, when transitioning from a cartridge to a DE you may think that your facial hair is growing faster. I attribute this to the fact that many cartridges actually pull the hair up and cut below the surface of the skin. I find that a DE shave lasts me twelve hours while a cartridge shave went a full twenty four before I noticed stubble. Some might think that their facial hair is growing "faster" with the DE because of this.
I second this.
many factors contribute to how thick and how fast your facial hair grows. Unfortunately for us, shaving is not one of them.
- Thread starter
- #15
Is it possible that it's not necessarily the shaving, but the act of exfoliating the face with the brush, and the extra time taken in doing extra passes and all the after care with this process that creates more circulation to the face, creating healthier hair growth? I wouldn't think the actual shaving process makes the hair grow faster and thicker, but all the face prep just creating a better environment for hair growth?
+1 summed up better than my feeble attempt.
Interesting, but anecdotal. A similar experiment was conducted more scientifically in a 1970 study, with opposite results. See Journal of Investigative Dermatology (1970) 55, 170172; doi:10.1111/1523-1747.ep12280667, http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v55/n3/abs/5618137a.html.
Sounds like correlation assumed as causality to me.
I never got enough follicles to grow a proper beard, but in my mid-20's they started growing in thicker and faster, which led me to try and get closer shaves, which led to ingrowns and irritation, which led me to DE shaving.
All be it was a scientific experiment it was only performed on legs, different parts of the body produce different types of hair.
Weather or not that one study showed conclusive evidence or not 5 people is hardly representative of the many different types of people there are and how the same thing can affect people in different ways.
All I know is my wife does indeed have hair on one toe and not the other and also a 1inch area on her belly that significantly displays a difference in hair, dark and course for part and normal fine fuzz in other areas. What other explanation could there be for this anomaly?
Weather or not that one study showed conclusive evidence or not 5 people is hardly representative of the many different types of people there are and how the same thing can affect people in different ways.
All I know is my wife does indeed have hair on one toe and not the other and also a 1inch area on her belly that significantly displays a difference in hair, dark and course for part and normal fine fuzz in other areas. What other explanation could there be for this anomaly?
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